Friday, August 21, 2015

I've been a bit obsessed with antique military style jackets, but haven't been able to justify making one yet so this seemed like a good excuse to play with the idea.

I cut off about 6" in length and removed the lining. Fitted it by taking in the side seams and princess seams which also narrowed the shoulders. Straightened the front of the jacket by removing the lapels and added a button band. Shaped the hem to add the points and used red felt to overlay the collar and the sleeves. Added shoulder epaulets made from the welt pockets and red piping to the hem.

I managed to cover the old buttonholes up on the front with braid but you can see where I zig-zagged them closed on the inside.

I used a hem facing - seemed the easiest way to finish off the shaped hem and then I handstitched down the lining.

The chinese knots are made from braid which was fused then hand stitched to the front of the jacket. The buttons were from my stash.

I was really impressed with the shoulders and sleeve cap supports inside the jacket - I've been annoyed at how mine have been collapsing and after looking at this I have been way undersupporting the sleeve cap. This had a layer of horsehair (or hessian?) and then another layer of a thick wool felt that was doubled over and stitched to the shoulder pad.

The front button band was too thick to try and sew buttonholes so I use press studs. Mine have always looked crappy but this time I followed this video of Susan Khaljie's, I used 2 strands of upholstery thread which had been waxed and they turned out pretty damn good if I do say so myself!

The only thing I wish I'd done differently is make this to fit me, not the daughter!﻿

Thursday, August 20, 2015

Our local library runs a sewing competition each year, the idea is that you get a bag of 2nd hand clothing and have to refashion it into an item of clothing or outfit.
In my bag of clothes I got a kilt, 2 shirts and a blazer. After a lot of sketches and googling images I decided on a military/punk look (though my daughter reckons it looks like a weird school uniform!) and managed to convince the daughter to model for me.

The Kilt

Before

After

This was a pretty basic refashion - All I did was shorten it and removed about 3" of the front overlay plus moved the buckles. The fabric is a scratchy wool that pressed like a dream and completely hides the hand stitched hem.

The Shirt

Before - Shirt 1

Before - Shirt 2

After - front

After - back

Shirt 1 - Cut off the sleeves, added princess seams to the front and back, shaped the hem, used the fabric from the sleeves to make an overlay for the back with the eyelets in it.

I used the shirt 2 as bias binding to finish the arm openings and the hem.

Most of the time taken on this was in the fitting, I pinned out the princess seams on Amber and had to refit them a couple of times. The back overlay I used muslin pinned on to get the right shape and fit then cut them out, interfacing the inside facing where the rivets are attached.

The fabric is a poly blend so it was really hard to get a smooth press with it, it still looks a bit wrinkly.

We did a trial outfit run and after seeing it on her I shortened the hem another 2".